Classic Christmas at Burghley House

On Monday 21st November we filled two vans and headed to the stunning Burghley House to join them in preparations for this years Christmas Fair. Our team created a selection of Christmas trees within the marquee, a large entrance arch and a photo backdrop Moongate.

The brief

Create a classically festive entrance to welcome visitors into the fair and luxury shopping marquee, using a traditional pallet of red, gold and green with a luxury country aesthetic.

The process

Beginning in late summer our stylists discussed the clients needs and visions for the event before creating a bespoke styling proposal. This included colour scheme, style and inspiration imagery as well as considerations for the seasonal weather and high visitor traffic the event was likely to have.

Working closely with the team at Burghley house we designed our largest every archway installation complete with an abundance of fresh seasonal greenery, over 3000 fairy lights and clusters of giant baubles. A matching 2m freestanding wreath was designed and created to be used as a super festive photo opportunity for visitors, alongside a collection of luxury decorated tree’s inside the shopping marquee, complete with custom build tree surrounds.

The Install

On a seasonally crisp morning our install team of 5 loaded up and headed out to the estate to begin installing. Starting with the archway half our team built a frame base of supports and wire before filling with a mixture of seasonal foliage including Nordman spruce, blue spruce, conifer, pine. We then built in shape with dried twisted willow and added varieties of eucalyptus and gold dipped foliage to add colour depth and interest. As it wouldn’t be Christmas without baubles we then added in clusters of baubles in a variety of sizes and colours. The combinations of foliage and natural dried elements was designed to bring together the nature of the surrounding parkland with the luxury stall of the fair.

On the other side of the market the other half of the team were creating the giant Christmas wreath photo backdrop. This piece was built on a Moongate more commonly used for creating beautiful floral wedding ceremony backdrops, but was perfect as a frame from this, the largest wreath our team has ever made! Again this install used a mixture of seasonal foliage and a range of baubles and decorations. As well as being visually impressive this install also needed to be able to hold up to over a weeks’ worth of winter weather and heavy visitor use, for this we worked closely with the client ensuring the install was sturdy and suitable without compromising on style.

Having been pre prepped at our studio in Cambridgeshire, the interior tree’s arrived partially decorated and finishing touches of gold foliage and traditional nutcracker decorations were added in situ to ensure perfect placement.

The Event

With expected visitor numbers of around 10,000 the Burghley Christmas fair took place over 4 days from Thursday to Sunday with the addition of a late night shopping evening on the Friday this year. As the daylight faded the warm lights across the fair created a magical atmosphere that fit perfectly with the traditional grandeur of the estate and house. Positioned at the fair entrance the giant wreath photo stop had a queue of families throughout the weekend waiting to take new Christmas memory snapshots, which was something extra special for our team to see.